By the Sea, From The Stars
by holdmeinyourarms1234
Summary: Moving to Puerto Rico was supposed to be an adventure for Emma Swan, an escape from her life in New York. But when she realizes that this missing person's case hits too close to home, she realizes that her perfect escape wasn't so perfect after all. On top of it all, there is this handsome marine biologist that won't get out of her head.


**A/N: Hi! So this is a brand new fic. I hope you enjoy it! I'm planning to write more, so enjoy reading!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, only my ideas. :)**

"Ladies and Gentleman, we welcome you to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The current temperature is 82 degrees Fahrenheit and the skies are sunny. We hope you had a good flight with us and hope you get to your destination safely. On behalf of our crew, we thank you for your journey."

As the flight attendant announced the landing, Emma was jolted awake by the scattered applauses she heard. She wondered why people were applauding at something as simple as landing as she began to gather her bearings. She opened the window next to her and a ray of bright sunlight shot through. As her eyes adjusted, she saw bright green trees and asphalt, in the distance she could see the glimmering azure of the ocean. This was exactly what she thought she needed.

As the plane taxied into the airport, she checked her phone and noticed several messages from Tink and Elsa, her old friends in New York and one from her new boss.

 ** _10:05 AM Regina_** _–_ _I hope your flight landed well Miss Swan. A driver will pick you up and take you to your apartment. Your detective partner will be stopping by your apartment to give you a briefing. We have a lot to do tomorrow. Rest up. –R. Mills Parrilla_

She replied a brisk thank you to her new boss and went into the group chat between Tink, Elsa, and her that had about 20 unread messages.

 **9:00 AM Tink** ** _–_** _Wait, so I have to find out you're leaving the country via a FACEBOOK POST. Emma wtf?_

 ** _9:01 Elsa –_** _WHAT? Emma. Where are you going?_

 ** _9:03 Tink –_** _Puerto Rico. Emma, you didn't even have the decency to let us know? What is going on?_

 ** _9:05 Elsa –_** _Does this have anything to do with Walsh? He's been calling me nonstop this morning._

 ** _9:08 Tink –_** _What happened with Walsh, I thought she already broke up with him? EMS?_

 ** _9:12 Elsa –_** _Like she did, but now Walsh wants to win her back or something idk, either way, he's being annoying and I am seriously about to go ice queen on him._

 ** _9:15 Tink –_** _I won't judge you sister. I mean, with everything that's happened he still thinks you'll fall back into his arms Ems?_

 ** _9:16 Tink –_** _Seriously Emma._

 ** _9:16 Tink –_** _Why did you leave?_

 ** _9:17 Tink –_** _Where are you?_

 ** _9:17 Tink –_** _ALSO WHY ARE YOU NOT ANSWERING?_

 ** _9:18 Elsa –_** _She's probably flying Tink._

 ** _9:20 Tink –_** _Right. Okay. Emma, answer this AS SOON AS YOU LAND. Elsa, kick his ass for me please._

 ** _9:30 Elsa –_** _With pleasure, I did so with that brute, Hans, last time, I think I can handle a furniture salesman…_

She laughed at that last message. It's not that she had forgotten to say goodbye via text the morning of her flight...it's just that she never found the right time to say anything. With their three hectic careers and lives, she barely got to see them, let alone tell them huge news that she conveniently never told them about until she had to leave.

In all honesty, though, she kind of needed to get away. Life in New York was fine, but…she was missing…something. That's why when her boss suggested a case in Puerto Rico, she jumped on it. That same day she broke her engagement and proceeded to rent an apartment on the tiny island. It was January a.k.a one of the worst months to be in New York. Contrastingly, San Juan was warm all year long and if the case was as serious as she thought it was, she'd be there for at least four months.

That would be enough time.

She'd make peace with everything, think about _why_ she was in this funk, and she'd come back to the big city replenished with a new vision. Simple and easy. Besides, it couldn't hurt that she'd be five minutes from the beach in her apartment. Of course, her knowledge regarding Spanish was that of an eighth grader's but she knew the closest basics, and she was a quick learner.

All she needed to do now was get to her apartment and throw herself into work and nothing more.

"So…you moved out of the country just for a job?" Tink asked her as she unpacked her clothes. After she had arrived to her San Juan apartment, she proceeded to take a nap. The five-hour plane ride had not helped her back and the night before had not been a restful one.

As soon as she woke up, she proceeded to call Tink and get her explanation out with hopes of sounding more eloquent than she did in her mind.

"Well, technically Puerto Rico is part of the country." She responded feigning nonchalance.

"Stop deflecting. Why did you just up and decide to move?"

"I don't know. I mean—ok, I do know, but, ok…so you know how sometimes you realize that you're not going to be happy if you keep going down the path you're on so you decide you need to make a change, albeit a temporary one, so you can reassess everything that's shitty with your life and figure out how to make it better?"

"Mmm…so you moved because you're going through your quarter-life crisis."

Emma snorted at that. "Nope. No. It's not a _crisis_ per se, it's just, an adventure."

Silence.

She continued. "Tink, I mean, it's been good these past years, when I met you and Elsa, and even Walsh, stuff was finally falling into place. But now? I don't know. I was just walking down by fifth ave. the other day and I saw this old couple walking their dogs. They weren't Upper East Siders, hell, they didn't even look like Upper West Siders, but they just looked happy. You know? And granted, it's not that I need a man to define my happiness, because truly I don't, but that couple was speaking a different language and I wondered what adventures they had when they were young. What places did they go to? Who did they meet? I realized that I had seen almost all of the East Coast, but nothing else. Tink—"

"It's okay Ems, I get it. I just wish you would've told me a little sooner."

"Well I didn't have a lot of time. I mean, it was like magic. The couple, my breakdown, and the next day I was offered this case."

"What exactly are you going to be doing down there?"

"I can't exactly reveal all of the details, but it's a missing person's case."

"And why did they contact you then?"

"Um…maybe because I'm good at my job?"

"No, I mean, I know, but why would they contact someone all the way in New York. I'm pretty sure Puerto Rico has good detectives."

"Well, I think it may be the family. The victims lived in New York a few years back and worked closely with our office here."

"Still seems strange, don't you think?"

At that moment, Emma heard a knock on her door. "Hold on Tink, I've got a visitor."

Emma rushed to the door and looked through the peephole. A woman with long brown hair was right outside. She opened the door and said, "Can I help you?"

"Emma Swan?"

"Yep." The woman smiled and held out her hand.

"I'm Ruby Sánchez, I'll be your partner detective person person."

"Oh, hi Ruby, it's nice to meet you. I'm sorry, I thought you might have been coming later." She said returning the hand shake. And opening her door wider, "would you like to come in?"

"Thanks." She said as she stepped in.

"Give me a quick sec." She returned to Tink, "Hey, Tink, I have to go, but we'll talk later okay?"

"Sure—OH wait!" Tink said.

"What?"

"I actually think I may know someone who went to college who's in PR now."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, his name is Killian Jones."

"No. Tink. I already hear the gears churning in your head."

"I haven't said anything." That girl sure knew how to feign innocence. "Just…I know it can be hard to make friends. I'll reach out to him. Okay, bye."

"No. Tink!" The line went dead and she was stuck knowing that her blonde friend still managed to meddle even when Emma was thousands of miles away. She sighed and turned to Ruby, who had taken a seat on her couch. "Sorry about that."

"It's no problem, was that someone from New York?"

"Yeah, my closest friend said she knew someone who lived in Puerto Rico."

"Really? Who?"

"Um, Killian Jones."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Do you know him?"

"Uh…yeah…but we can talk about him later. Let's get you briefed."

As Ruby went on to explain the case of Mary Margaret and her missing husband, David Nolan, Emma couldn't help but look out at the PR skyline. The buildings weren't as tall as the ones in New York, and she now knew that PR was much smaller than she thought it was.

What had she gotten herself into?

 **A/N: Ooooh, there we have the introduction of Killian, who is this mystery man that everyone knows? Guess we'll find out next chapter! I know we didn't have a lot of CS action, but I kind of want this to be about a little bit more than that so, yeah, all good things come to those who wait. Leave a review? I love them!**


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